UEEF - The Shadow Chronicles - IC Thread

[Sherwood]

​

It has been a long three weeks in fold space since the fleet has left Earth on its way to Tyrol, the homeworld of the Robotech Masters. Luckily for you, this time has been spent on board the Command Cruiser MacArthur, giving you access to one of the bigger ships of the division, and more freedom to stretch your legs and have some more to do in your off time. But even so, for a bunch of pilots, being stuck inside the ship has been a long, boring flight, with the promise of a lot of action coming up to help keep you motivated.

As it is, there is a lot of simulator and classroom time, trying to keep your skills honed to a razor edge of preparedness. But even as you go through seemingly endless sims, there is just a bit of uncertainty looming over your heads as to just what it is that you are about to get yourselves into. No one in the Fleet has any real idea of just what the Robotech Masters will do when the UEEF Fleet comes out of fold space to say 'hello', but no one is expecting it to go peacefully.

One part of your testing and training is targeted to see what pairings will do the best in the squadron assignments. It is a subject of much debate on the MacArthur, with everyone wondering just when the CAG (Commander Air Group) is going to make the team selections.

Today is a fairly typical day, with our heroes doing whatever it is that your duty assignment currently is when you receive a summons to briefing room four by the CAG, probably to get your squad assignments. Getting to the briefing room, you see that there are dozens of pilots there, all shifting around to get to a seat, chatting about the possible team assignments.

The chatter is suddenly cut short when the shout of "Attention on deck!" echoes across the room as the CAG comes walking in with a few members of her staff. Commander Erin Reynolds is a tall slim woman, with shoulder length black hair. A former pilot herself, she served with distinction on the SDF-1 in the First Robotech War. Now in charge of over four hundred Veritech pilots, Cmdr. Reynolds is a very important person on the MacArthur.

The CAG steps up to the podium and says, "Take your seats!" She waits for everyone to sit down, then says, "Welcome pilots. Today you will be getting your squad assignments. Check your data tablets for the downloads of what your various teams will be." She is silent as she watches everyone's heads bow down and examine their tablets, and you can see the six names of your squadron clearly listed. "Ladies and gentlemen, we expect that there will be another two weeks of time spent in fold space, giving everyone some time to get to know your various teams and get used to working together as a cohesive unit."

"Alright. Once you are dismissed, locate your teams and your squad leader. You will be expected to perform with the highest levels of professionalism when dealing with your fellow team members. If there is a issue, my door is always open. Just make sure you use your chain of command first or you will live to regret it." A ripple of laughter flows through the room at that, but everyone knows that Cmdr. Reynolds is very serious about following the proper protocols.

Psychie D. Rex Rykon jaydude Mirgris

OOC Is there any volunteers for the role of squad leader? I am hesitant to assign the NPC as the head, and I don't want to just arbitrarily assign a leader from the players.

 

[jaydude]

Once the briefing was finished, Ian would stand up from his seat and seek out the other members of his assigned squad, figuring that there was no time like the present to start getting to know them. Part of him wondered what was in store for them all in two weeks, but he didn't expect to learn anything about that right now.

OOC: Whoever posts next can have Ian approach them. Also, in terms of squad leader, I don't mind taking it if no-one else wants to do so/outranks Ian.

 

[Psychie]

Motoko brushes a stray strand of hair out of her face as she glances down at the tablet to see the names of her fellow squad members, all the while keeping a ear open to what the Commander is saying up front at the podium. With a satisfied nod, she looks around to see if she can spot any of the members of her squadron. As the CAG dismisses everyone, she spots one: Ian Grimsbury.

Working her way through the crowd, Motoko offers up a smile and sticks her hand out. "Hey there. Looks like we are on the same team. I'm Motoko Karagawa, but everyone calls me Bigs. Good to meet you."

 

[jaydude]

Ian took the proffered hand with a smile of his own. "Nice to meet you too." he replied, a faint Cornish accent within his voice. "Second Lieutenant Ian Grimsbury, of the Marines. Everyone calls me Gloomy."

 

[Psychie]

Motoko grins. "A fellow Marine! Good. Perhaps we'll have a few more jarheads like us to keep this squad in one piece. These Navy guys are ok, I guess, but it just won't be the same."

 

[jaydude]

Ian chuckled a little at Motoko's words. "If you say so. Can't say I've ever met a Navy man who was completely disagreeable, though." he replied.

 

[Sherwood]

Speaking of Navy, a rather young looking 2nd Lieutenant in a lightweight jumpsuit comes bounding up. He looks to be about eighteen, with neatly cropped blonde hair. He gives you two a smile and wave. "Hey guys! I'm Dennis Murphy, callsign Springer. I'm a Beta pilot. Good to meet you."

 

[Psychie]

The slim Asian woman waves back at the kid. "Hey. I'm Motoko Karagawa, callsign Bigs. I'm a Alpha jockey and STORM Commando and intelligence operative. This is Ian Grimsbury, but we can call this shining light of fun and excitement Gloomy."

 

[jaydude]

Ian gave a grin and a shrug. "All the callsigns related to the grim reaper were taken. Just a drawback of being from a UEDF family." he explained.

 

[Rykon]

Jake scans the crowd looking for any of the names matching his assigned unit. After a moment he saw the group begin to gather before identifying any name tags. "Hey everyone. I'm Jake McGregor, Recon Alpha pilot for pay and engineer by hobby. This is the right group... right?"

 

[D. Rex]

Victor was a large man. Quite burly. Thick too, with what plumpness that determined his figure being but a mask of the muscle underneath. He made his way through the crowd with data pad in hand, searching he faces of gathering men and women searching out their squads.

With his height, it didn't take Victor long to find them.


" I see that you all are already getting acquainted. Good." He said in a deep voice. Nodding in approval despite the slight frown that graced his face. "I am Victor Beckett. Beta pilot. And it looks like I will be your squad leader."

"Ah, yes," the bear of a man added."My call sign is Ursa Major."

 

[jaydude]

Ian looked down at his tablet, then back up at Jake. "Unless there's a glitch or a mistake on here, then yes, this is your group." he said, giving the black-haired young man a cocky yet friendly grin, before all of them would hear the heavy footfalls of Victor, followed by his deep voice.

"Second Lieutenant Ian Grimsbury. Marines and Beta Pilot. Looking forward to working with you." Ian replied, saluting if necessary.

 

[Psychie]

Motoko offers up a salute to this Lt. Beckett, and silently thinks that his callsign fits him well, with the raw size and burly looks. "Good to meet you, sir. Second Lieutenant Motoko Karagawa, Marine Corps Alpha pilot."

 

[Mirgris]

"Andrew Patterson, Lance Corporal. It's good to meet everyone, I'm qualified to pilot alphas, betas, cyclones, most star ships, and most aircraft as well as being storm trained. I come from a military family, so some strings got pulled in regards to my training."

The man himself is rather short and thin, a string bean in combat fatigues. His pale skin sits in stark contrast to his short raven black hair that is slicked down into military regulation.

 

[jaydude]

"Good to meet, you, Patterson." replied Ian, as he shook Andrew's hand and introduced himself once again.

 

[Sherwood]

As everyone is shaking hands and getting introduced, a sudden change that is almost imperceptible can be felt through the deck of the ship. The low thrum of the ship being in fold space has been a constant companion for the past several weeks, and by now you don't even notice it . . . until it changes on you. Yellow lights flick on in the room as the voice of one of the bridge crewmen can be heard over the public address system.

"All hands, yellow alert. Eminent failure of the fold space engine detected. Prepare for emergency emergence into normal space. All hands to your action stations, all pilots to their fighters."

Springer looks surprised. In a startled voice, he says, "What the hell? Leaving fold space? I wonder how bad this malfunction is. Boss man, we'd better get to the hangar deck."

Heading out, it is a short trip from the briefing room to the cavernous main hangar deck, now awash in activity as dozens of pilots get ready to deploy if there is any signs of hostiles when the MacArthur prepares to make the transition back into normal space. As you run up to where your fighters are parked, you can see that the Alphas and Betas are already linked up in three pairs in their launch cradles.

OOC D. Rex It will be up to you to assign what pilots are paired up at the moment.

 

[D. Rex]

Victor saluted them in turn, but greetings were apparently cut short as yellow lights began to flash. Well, he knew what that meant. End of introductions. Good thing he looked over the pad before meeting them. At least he had some idea of their capabilities.

"Alright, you, Jake, you were in recon... I trust they taught you some degree of independence. Until further notice you are my number two. " he said curtly , "If I fall, you better have your second already in mind. You pair up with Springer. "

"Bigs, Gloomy. I want you two paired." He said then looked over to Patterson, "That means you're with me, String Bean."

"Get to your ships and hook up. Change your settings, Adjust your seat, discuss how you fly and how you fire. There will be no time for it if we launch. Until the alert is lowered we are going to assume we are flying into a death trap. . "

 

[Psychie]

Motoko gives Gloomy a friendly punch on the shoulder. "Lets get to it. I want to make sure my Veritech is up and running at 100% if we have to launch. Time to suit up." With that, she moves out with a purpose, first getting into her CVR-3 armor and securing her sidearm, then running to her Alpha and giving the mecha a quick external check before jumping into the cockpit and starting to warm up her avionics and other systems.

 

[jaydude]

"Seconded on all counts." replied Ian, before he too left. Once he was suited up and had carried out his own checks, he climbed into his Beta and began looking over all the settings, quickly setting up the mecha's communication systems so that he could speak to the rest of his squad through it.

"So what's the plan here, Bigs?" he asked over the radio. "I plug into you once shit hits the fan?"

 

[Psychie]

Bigs replies over the radio, "It all depends on what we might be running into out there. We may want the extra versatility of the extra numbers of fighters in the air. One way or another, we'll stick together and cover each others' six and get the job done."

 

[Rykon]

Jake gets settled into the pilot's seat of his Alpha and flips on the squad comms. "Understood sir. I rather hope it doesn't come to that though. Springer, is everything good over there?"

 

[D. Rex]

"I hope it doesn't either, son," Victor says as he buckles up and slips on his helmet. ",but if you plan for the worst, all surprises are pleasant. If this was an mechanical failure, we'd have heard of it. Meaning something is in our way or pulled us from the space fold. It could be the Robotech Masters knew we were coming, or space is less friendly then we already assumed it was. Either way we will be the first harsh lesson to any who think it a bright idea to mess with Earth. "

Running a brief diagnostic and systems check, he set his hands in the throttle and was ready to launch at a command. "This is Ursa Major, all systems clear. Operator, do we got any eyes or sensor data on where we are leaving the space fold? Asteroids? Planets? Laser slinging Space monkeys? Give me something. "

 

[jaydude]

Bigs replies over the radio, "It all depends on what we might be running into out there. We may want the extra versatility of the extra numbers of fighters in the air. One way or another, we'll stick together and cover each others' six and get the job done."

"Good plan, over." replied Ian, before he went silent in order to hear Victor's message.

 

[Sherwood]

As everyone runs though their pre-flight checklists, Andrew's Alpha comes up with a warning indicator on the starboard engine, making the deck crews scramble to open up access panels to try and fix it. He will not be able to launch for some time.

The calm voice over the radio from the Command Deck counts down. "Emergence into normal space in five, four, three, two, one. Transition complete." It is a very rough shift, making everyone a little queasy, but at least the bad feeling passes quickly. "Multiple contacts detected, range 10,000 meters. Alert fighters, standby for launch." The radar feed is being shared with the squadrons, so everyone is up to speed on what you might be flying out into.

There are five large targets and multiple smaller ones. The first ship is quickly identified as a Thuverl-Salan class Zentraedi destroyer. It is a 7,500 foot long, 1,300 foot tall beast that is packed full of fighters and battle pods, and is the general work horse of the Zentraedi fleet.



The next two ships are of the same type. According to the data files from the allied Zentraedi with the Fleet, these are Quiltra-Draenitzs class Transport ships, used by the Robotech Masters as Bioroid carriers. Roughly 1,600 feet long, it packs over 300 Bioroids on their hover sleds, and is the general equivalent of an aircraft carrier. They only carry point-defense weapons and lack any serious ship-to-ship capability.



The next two ships are of an unusual design, and in comparison to the other three, these are much smaller.



Only five hundred feet long from 'heads' to 'tails', they seem to pack quite a punch with some major anti-ship weapons, as can be seen by the intense firefight that is going on between these two and the Zentraedi and Robotech Master ships. In fact, as you watch, one of the Transport Ships takes a hard series of hits and explodes!

As more data comes across the feed, it is clear that the Zentraedi destroyer is badly damaged, and is in fact trying to use its own hull to shield the transport ship from harm from the two unknown ships, trying to use its own heavy guns to take out the threat to them.


The talker from the Command Deck gives the order for the first set of fighters to launch and form a screening force around the MacArthur. "All squadrons, standby. We are attempting to contact the Zentraedi ship." There is a long pause, then the order is given for all the Veritechs on the ship to launch. "All squadrons, be advised that the Zentraedi and Robotech Master forces are in the area are not your targets, but instead, focus on the aliens attacking them. I say again, do not engage the Zentraedi or Bioroid forces."

 

[jaydude]

Ian gave an involuntarily shudder as the ship reentered normal space, but quickly settled himself down to listen to the Command Deck's instructions, and then await Victor's orders.